Best Paintball Guns – A Complete Guide

Looking for the best paintball gun to wreak havoc on your opponents? Ok, maybe wreak just some paint and a little pain? It all starts with the gun of course! Let’s take a look that most popular paintball guns out there, chosen on the merit of type of gun, quality and also value for money. PaintballGunDoc has also put up a very detailed paintball mask buying guide, allowing you to buy the best paintball mask your money can buy. Check it out if you need a mask as well!

Best Paintball Guns – A Complete Guide!

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Best Compressed Air Paintball Guns

The following guns, except for the Tippmann X7 Phenom, are semi-automatic guns that do not require a battery. The Tippmann X7 Phenom can actually work without a battery but it is capable of working with a battery as well.

Paintball guns that are semi-automatic are generally more reliable and rugged than their electronic counterparts as they have a smaller number of moving parts. They are particularly preferred by beginner and intermediate level players who are discovering how to play the game, relying on a reliable gun rather than player skills.

Also, please note that all of these guns will work with CO2 gas. C02 is cheaper than compressed air or HPA although CO2 is unreliable if temperatures are too cold or too hot. Moreover, since C02 is in liquid form, it is more prone to provide nagging maintenance issues with your gun. HPA or compressed air is very stable at different temperatures although it is almost twice as expensive as CO2 refills. Another drawback with compressed air or HPA is that not all paintball venues might have a facility that allows compressed air refills. So, be sure to check your favorite paintball venue to see if they have a compressed air refill facility, before you pick up a compressed air or mechanical gun! You can still make it work with CO2, but it just isn’t quite the same as HPA.

The accessories bag comes with the usual O-rings, Allen ridges and a squeegee to clean out the barrel, should balls get chopped, which rarely happens by the way.

Modability – Very high – Up to 22 Mods (M16, MP5, G36, AK47 and more!)

Playing level – Intermediate / Advanced

Accuracy level – High

Recoil level – Very low

Maximum shots from one tank – 1400 (68 Cubic Inch, 4500 PSI tank)

Warranty – 2 Years Tippmann Warranty

The assault edition is easily one of the best looking military guns for Woodsball players out there. It is also one of the best paintball guns in terms of performance as well, if you are looking for non-electronic guns.
Besides a high level of modability that gives you stunning looks, it has the performance to match. With almost no recoil on offer and a rapid and semi mode, it is only you who can restrict the amount of annihilation you can dose out. Since the gun works without battery, you can easily use your tank to power through the battles without only your Turbo mode working without a battery.

This gun has been designed to operate with very little maintenance. And even when you do need to carry out maintenance, the push pin construction makes it incredibly easy to take everything apart and put it back right away. The trigger is made completely out of metal, giving you maximum durability for the part that you use the most. Made out of lightweight but robust aluminum, this gun will easily survive even the toughest of woodsball elements.

The gun is pretty awesome in just its stock version. But, if you want that little extra, the mod that makes the most sense is the 10′ Lapco assault barrel. The stock barrel is a 91/2′ barrel by the way. You can even go for the Lapco 16′ Big Shot assault barrel if you are looking for a whole new level of range and accuracy.

The Tippmann Cronus Tactical is pretty much the same gun as the Tippmann Cronus, which retails for about $10 – $20 less than the tactical edition. But, for just that little more money, you get a carry handle, a vertical grip, fixed rear and front sights, a mock silencer / suppressor as well. It just gives your gun that much more jazz when it comes to looks and a bit of added functionality as well.

As for being a entry-level mechanical gun, there’s plenty of value here. The gun is robust, made of high-impact composite material that can take quite a beating, even many paintball shots, without getting damaged. The gun can be assembled in a matter of minutes and is play-ready almost immediately, just as soon as you cock it. The stock is adjustable and you can tinker with the length of the gun using this. The fixed sights in the rear and the back are a nice addition, giving you the potential for more accuracy.

If you are looking for a first upgrade from a pump action paintball gun, to one that can give you the power of semi-auto, this is a fantastic buy, especially at about the $100 mark. Build quality is excellent and it is very low-maintenance. The four Picattiny rails on the gun mean there’s plenty of mod options, should you need it. Read a full review of the Tippmann Cronus Tactical Edition Gun here.

If you are sort of on the fence about whether or not to go for an electronic paintball marker or a mechanical one, the US Army Alpha Elite will satisfy you either way. This stock version is a purely mechanical gun but with a simple e-grip and trigger upgrade, you can have a battery powered, multi-firing mode gun in your hands. An upgrade to the e-version US Army Alpha Elite will cost you about $30 extra, but will give you about 8 firing modes and a visual LED mode indicator. Both models offer high accuracy level, especially for a gun priced under $150.

The Alpha Elite is also a work horse. Built out of aluminum, this will serve you long and well, with just minimal and regular oil maintenance.

Styled after the famous M 16, the Alpha Elite looks mean, with a clean tactical look. Made from die cast aluminum, the gun feels super solid in your hands. The barrel shroud comes with several Picatinny rails that you can use for various mounts like a laser, tactical lights or even a front hand grip. The carry handle is also removable, again having several Picatinny rails, allowing for more customization.

It comes with a quick release feed neck that is pretty easy to hook up to hoppers, although you will be required to tighten and loosen a screw with a tool. This is where the magazine might come in handy. Otherwise just for show, it gives you storage space to store Allen keys, a small screwdriver or even a battery, should you upgrade and make the gun an electronic gun.

At the sub $100 price it is available at, this purchase can be hard to beat. Though you will have to buy a hopper and tank separately, you are easily looking at keeping your total spend to less than $200, but have a gun that can perform the same or even better than the $300+ guns out there.

The Azodin Kaos comes with a double detent housing that make any hopper fit, whether electronic or gravity, fit fantastically well. The two finger trigger is very robust, with very little side to side play. It has a velocity adjuster at the back of the gun. If you are just getting into paintball and don’t mind spending $100 on a marker, this is a fantastic gun to start off with. Also makes for a great update from a very basic beginner level gun. Easily one of the best paintball guns if you are looking to spend only less than $100.

At $59, this gun is clearly intended for those who want a first marker to get into the sport of paintball. The gun doesn’t have a front grip but it does have the basics like a 10 inch barrel, a velocity adjuster and an aluminum build. Downsides are that the feed neck is made from a composite material (high-grade plastic) and not metal. It is also a pretty loud gun that might give your position away rather easily.

All in all, a pretty decent entry level gun that is also a very popular choice as backup gun for many players who have more expensive paintball guns as their everyday shooter. This obviously isn’t the best of the best paintball guns, but, at $59, you get a gun that can shoot semi-auto and with a aluminum build. That is just pretty hard to beat. A great choice for those who are still on the wall about pursuing paintball as a sport or hobby. If you like paintball, you might actually end up using this gun for a good 6 months before you look for an upgrade to something with more performance.

Best Electronic Paintball Guns

Electronic guns use a micro trigger pull mechanism that requires very little effort to pull the trigger. A battery powers a solenoid that uses a laser beam to sense trigger pulls and all it takes is mouse click like pressure to pull the trigger.

Also, since the solenoid is highly programmable, you will usually have the option to quickly switch between single fire, three burst, ramping (more paintballs are fired when you apply incremental pressure to the trigger) and speedball modes, without any difference to trigger sensitivity. Electronic guns are quieter than their compressed air counterparts and definitely have a lot less recoil. When recoil is low, accuracy becomes higher. This is why electronic guns are a very popular choice for paintballers who are serious about their game, even if it means that the guns are more expensive.

Buy the Dye M2 Electronic Paintball Marker at Amazon, Here.This without a doubt is the hottest paintball marker out there. Everybody wants it, even if it has the $1,500+ price tag. There’s just no way we can go over all the features here, which is why you will see an exhaustive review page for this gun soon at Paintball Gun Doc. But, until then, here is a quick run down of some of the many sensational features.

First off, this gun comes in a beautiful and durable case that will allow you to maintain this gun for a lifetime. This is one of the few guns that comes with a rechargeable battery, one that will last you 100,000 shots! That’s about 833 pods people! The board is simply out of this world on this gun. It comes with six player profiles, all of which are programmable. The trigger is just butter smooth, thanks to proprietary magnetic system technology. It is also adjustable and you can set the play or reach or trigger angle to anything that you like. What people love about this gun is that it won’t even chop old paintballs, paintballs that can wreak havoc on lesser guns. It has a 5 way push joystick at the back of the gun that quickly allows you to use the many options on the board, with help from a very bright and clearly seen 1 inch screen with 128 x 128 pixel clarity, in color. Even the layout of the screen is open to customization! The display will even remind you when you should lube and service your gun. Your gun’s case comes with a high-resolution graphic that shows how to maintain your gun, where what o-ring needs to go and how to take apart and put the gun back together. They have thought of everything when they made the Dye M2.

The USB port will allow you to download updates to the software that controls the board, thereby giving you constant improvements to the usability options of the gun.

The gun uses a revolutionary Billy Wing Fuse Bolt System that is incredibly easy to pull out and maintain. It also operates in pressures as low as 135 PSI! Recoil is insanely low on this one. Read a full review here. (Coming Soon!)

If you want the best tactical weapon out there, the Dye DAM Assault Matrix is a gun that will make you drool. What makes this gun special is the dual stack magazine feed option. Capable of housing 10 and 10 .68 and first strike paintball guns and also housing a top loading hopper, you have the amazing capability of switching from magazine fed to hopper fed with a flick of a switch.

An ideal way to take advantage of this feature is to load the magazine with first strike paintballs and load the hopper with .68 caliber paintballs. Rain balls from your hopper in speedball like encounters while you switch to magazine fed to use those deadly one-kill first strike balls, for long-distance encounters. In case you didn’t know, a first-strike paintball has a supremely aerodynamic shape that increases range by almost 50%, with almost no loss in accuracy even in the end of that extended range.

Now, coming back to the Dye DAM Assault, you can also couple it with the Dye Box Rotor which will increase your magazine fed capacity to 325! The box rotor is expensive at about $400. But, if budget isn’t an issue and you want to max-out your ammo capacity, the Dye DAM is the gun you want and the Dye Box Rotor the upgrade you want.

Now, please bear in mind that is an advanced level gun. Coming in at a hefty 4.76 lbs without the magazine, it isn’t for beginners. The Dye DAM can be heavily customized. The modular shroud has two components that can both be removed to reduce weight. Please bear in mind that removing the second half of the shroud will mean that you have to get rid of the front grip as well, as it mounts on to the second shroud component. In all, the gun has more than two feet of Picatinny rails that will allow you to add optics, lasers, Go-Pros of just about anything that can be mounted on a Picatinny rail. Most Dye DAM Assault users use optics combined with a Dye Rotor Box upgrade so they can make the most of a no-hopper sights down the gun.

The stock is removable and also length adjustable and comes with a pretty decent storage space, to maybe store a battery or some tools. Speaking of storage, the Dye DAM comes in a very sturdy hard-top zipper like case with quality foam padding. And it also comes with a look-alike magazine that is actually a storage space and not really a magazine. It will have a battery, O-ring and other tools.

The bolt is very serviceable without tools, thanks to a quick release system. The velocity adjuster is built into the bolt and requires an Allen key to adjust.

As mentioned before, one of the biggest advantages of the Dye DAM is the ability to change from hopper fed to magazine fed on the fly. Dye in-fact calls this the OTF (On the fly) system. The magazines can be swapped out with either hand (ambidextrous). If all you need is a few good shots to take down your opponents, you will just fall in love with this gun and the magazine feed system, especially since it can house first strike paintballs. To cater to specific tournament needs, you can perform a board lockout and make the Dye DAM compatible in no-time.

All parts that require frequent maintenance are accessible with just 2 steps, only sometimes requiring allen keys. The DYE Dam comes with both a standard feed neck cover plate as well as a adjustable cam-lock style feed neck, giving you faster lock-on to your hopper should you prefer that style.

The low profile of this assault gun, insane accuracy, ability to shoot first strike and being able to go from a precision shooter to volume dumper (with the Dye BOX rotor) all mean that you can wipe out your opponents at just one go, without ever reloading or re-configuring your gun, mid-play!

This gun is really one of a kind. It was primarily designed to help a player eliminate the tall profile that a paintball gun gets from a top loading hopper. Though the Dye DAM Assault Matrix (discussed above) does the same, it only does it for almost double the price of teh Defender. In this gun, the loader or hopper is built into the butt-cap, giving players clean sights.

The trigger is connected to the loader which means that the loader starts to spin only when you hit the trigger. This means that there is no reliance on gravity feed which means less chopped balls. The downside however is that the loader has a lower profile than the barrel, meaning that balls are pushed up and then down before they are shot. While the loader does amazingly well at avoiding chopped balls, it won’t be able to load the last 10 or so balls as it will need more balls to push paint down the breach. But a quick refill when you are running low is more than enough to fix the problem. You can also use gravity to fire out those last few shots in dire emergencies.

The box is configured to play right out of the box, with PSI set at 200. Empire recommends that you don’t change this PSI setting although there are plenty of players who have set it as high as 250. We however recommend that you keep it at 200. There is an Allen key that you can turn to adjust velocity, if you really want to tinker with speed of paint shot.

Maintenance of this gun is extremely easy, with tool-less repair enough to fix those rare paint jams. Two finger push pins and a squeeze and snap pin are enough to expose the breach and ramp, both of which can be cleaned without tools as well. Taking apart the breach and cleaning and putting it back will take all of maybe 2 minutes, meaning you can bet back in the game.

If you think you will love a gun that offers you great sights without a loader, this is the one for you. People who use it never use any other gun, ever!

Trigger Type – Two Finger Aluminum, Smooth but with a little side to side play

Firing Modes – Semi Capped and Uncapped. Ramping up to 15 BPS

Gun Length – 21.73 Inches

Max BPS – 15

Loader type – Not Included

Modability – High

Playing level – Intermediate / Advanced

Accuracy level – High

Recoil level – Very Low

Tank Capacity – No tank available with gun.

Maximum shots from one tank -n/a

Warranty – 12 Months Warranty

The ETEK 5 from Planet Eclipse is a gun that might just close the large gap between “intermediate” and “tournament” level paintball guns, giving you a very highly efficient gun at about $550, a third of the price that you will pay for similar performance from a gun like the Dye 2.

The extra efficiency all comes down to the build. The ETEK 5 uses a lot of moving parts and features a ZICK3 Rammer system and a CURE5 bolt along with an internal LPR to give you a soft, consistent shot with almost no recoil. With an operating pressure of just 150 PSI, you are going to get longevity along with high-end performance as well, crucial when you need to spray paint in speedball tournaments or games.

As a stock model, the gun features a RGB display that gives you basic information like firing modes based on the color being shown. But, if you upgrade the board to a OLED board, you get a nice crisp white on black display that shows you shots fired, firing modes and other crucial information like battery life. The gun weighs just 2.2 lbs and is therefore a highly efficient gun that won’t fatigue your arms. A lot of hardcore paintballers say that this gun is extremely similar to the LVI, another high performance gun. The manual that comes with the gun is one of the best in the industry. In fact, all Planet Eclipse marker guns come with exemplary manuals that show actual shots of the gun, making it very easy for you to take the gun apart, should maintenance needs arise.

If you are looking to get serious with paintball and don’t quite have the $1,500 or so to spend on a high-end marker, get this gun and put down another $100 on a OLED upgrade and maybe look at a barrel upgrade (like the MacDev Shift 2) and you are pretty much on the same league as the big boys, at least equipment wise! All this comes with a very strong 2-year warranty from Planet Eclipse, a company that firms stands behind its products and is always willing to help resolve customer gripes.

At $350, this gun comes with plenty of features that you will typically only find in guns priced beyond $600 to $750. For starters, The Maxxed comes with an On/Off ASA. The feed neck on the marker comes with a neat little rotating lever that makes putting on or taking off a hopper incredibly easy, without having to awkwardly rotate gun or hopper.

The guns anti-chop technology means that you have a very high chance of shooting even fragile, neglected paintballs, without messy chops.

For those worried that the Maxxed might have the same Solenoid issues as the standard Rize, you needn’t worry. An updated Solenoid is one of the main features of the Maxxed and they have got it bang on this time. The firing bolt uses larger air volume but operating pressure is just 140 psi compared to about 160 on the standard Rize.

Besides these features, you also get dual density sticky grips that do a fantastic job ergonomically speaking, while also giving rugged protection to your gun’s battery and board. Dye have also thought of other neat little things like a fantastic user manual that makes it very easy for you to understand how to take apart the gun and put it back together. They have even take the pains to color-code o-rings so you don’t fumble around during assembly. A very highly rated gun, offering high end features for a mid-end price.

Though the gun is great, we recommend that you swap out the free battery that comes with the gun with a high quality battery of your own. Dye have chosen a rather poor battery after designing such a quality gun.

The Planet Eclipse Etha has been around for a while and is a popular choice for intermediate tournament players and also for advanced tournament players who are on a budget. This gun is very different from other similarly priced electronic markers in that it come with a lot of feedback. You can actually feel the actuation when you fire a shot. Unless you like high-end guns like the Dye M2, guns that have almost no recoil, you might actually enjoy the feedback you get with this gun, giving you more immersive play when you are out there.

The large trigger frame and the excellent ergonomics of the gun makes this a player’s gun. Build is mostly aluminum but the grips are composite, which is a bit of a downer. But then, the composite material is very durable and will not be a problem in terms of ruggedness. You will just miss the metal feel. But that’s why this gun is retailing at less than $350, for the performance it offers will otherwise easily allow it to fetch a $400+ price point.

The Tippmann A-5 is a reliable gun with which you can throw yourself into bunkers, sand and even walls and still expect the gun to fire like it was just off the shelf. It comes with a cocking mechanism that will allow you to use the gun even if the battery runs out, as long as there is gas in the tank, even firing 15 balls per second on full auto mode.

With 5 firing modes; semi-auto, full auto, auto response, three round burst and full turbo, this is a fantastic gun at $299. The fact that it comes with a 200 round low profile hopper and a very durable cyclone feed that allows up to 15 balls per second fire makes this a mid range performance gun that you can use just out of the box, with nothing but an additional purchase of a tank.

The only drawback with this gun is that it doesn’t work that well with CO2. It will get the job done mind you, but will fire meek shots when the pressure is low. Compressed air will fare much better though. Since the hopper and cyclone feed are already included, you can juice up the reliability of this gun with a high quality compressed air tank, even one with a large capacity. The A-5 with E grips cost $100 more than the A-5 without E grips, but the full auto and auto response modes make the extra $100 so worth it.

For durability, modability and straight out of the box play, the Tippmann A-5 is a fantastic value for money deal.

With 10 firing modes facilitated by the very popular Tadao board, this is a mid-range priced marker that is a fantastic buy for tournament play. Weighing at just 2 lbs, this gun is purely built for performance efficiency. It comes with a ASA on/off switch, locking (not clamping) feedneck, Eyes on/off and a super simplified spool valve that uses far fewer O-rings than traditional tournament guns, meaning efficiency over a longer period of time. There is a velocity adjuster in the back that you screw clockwise or anti-clockwise to control bps, ideal for tournament play with specific bps rules.

The gun operates at a rather low 150-160 psi and is equipped with anti-chop features that will prevent paint chops even when you are just 1-2 balls out of paint!

When it comes to the best paintball pistols out there in the market today, it almost always comes down to the Tippmann TiPX pistol and the Tiberius Arms T8,1. While the Tiberius Arms is a better performance pistol, the Tippmann offers several convenient features without compromising too much on performance either.

For starters, the CO2 cartridge in placed below the barrel. This means that you can fire up to three magazines or about 3 cartridges with 7 balls each, before you need to switch gas cartridges. Switching a gas cartridge can be done in seconds, as all you need to do is turn and pull. There is not even threading that you have to undo!

While The Tippmann TiPX is not first strike ready out of the box, buying a first strike adapter like the Gunhead v3 TPX adapter, costing about $24, will have it first strike ready with a very simple swap out of the stock breech.

If you ever lose count of how many paintball you have left, a quick peek at the transparent compartments in the magazine and even the breech that will tell you if you have ammo in the magazine or at least that one last precious ball in the breech. A nice little feature when you have just 7 balls in your magazine.

If you are the type of scenario player that uses strategy to sneak up close to your opponents, without requiring extended range, the Tippmann TiPX is an excellent choice, especially over the Tiberius T8.1 as it gives you cheap and quick reload capabilities, while keeping gas cartridge costs low.

Go for the Tiberius Arms T8.1 if you want sheer performance. Able to fire First Strike right out of the box, you get insane velocity of almost 280 feet per second, matched by none of the other pistols out in the market today. Even with just regular .68 caliber paintballs, velocity is quite high at about 265 fps.

The drawback to this gun however is the location of the CO2 cartridge. It is built into the magazine that it comes with. This presents two problems. First, if you are going to pull out the magazine to reload paintballs, you are going to lose just a little bit of air every time you do it. Since you get only about 20 shots per CO2 cartridge, you might bring down that 20 count to just 15 because you have had to lose air when you pulled out the magazine twice.

The workaround to this problem is that you buy additional magazines and equip them with CO2 cartridges. This will allow you to use 12 grams of CO2 for just 8 bullets in a single magazine, resulting in very high accuracy combines with superb range. But this is where the second problem presents itself. Cost. It can add up. Even if you are buying CO2 cartridges by the 15 count, at about $0.83 per cartridge, it can start to add up rather quickly. But, if budget isn’t an issue and only performance is your top priority, the Tiberius Arms gives you unmatched power.

If you are the type of player who likes to take out your opponents from a distance, no pistol will help you do it better than the Tiberius Arms T8.1.

The Kingman Training Eraser only shoots .43 cal paintballs. You can’t use .68 cal paintballs with this pistol. Make sure you are OK with that before you proceed to consider this gun as your pistol of choice!

If you buy this pistol from Amazon.com, you get it with 100 .43 Kingman paintballs and also with 2 CO2 cartridges. However, we highly recommend that you don’t use the balls that you get for free. They chop and chop a lot. It is quite disappointing that Kingman chose to send across such fragile balls to customers of this excellent pistol.

Anyways, coming back to the pistol, it is made out of extruded aluminum which gives you a premium weighty feel, like you are carrying a solid weapon. Though there isn’t a provision to run a remote gas line, one little 12 g CO2 cartridge can fire off about 60 paintballs.

Get about 6 cartridges and load them up and you essentially have a pistol that can fire off 60 rounds, with even the last few shots being fired at about 230 to 250 feet per second. The range on this pistol isn’t as high as the Tippmann TiPX or the Tiberius Arms T8.1, due to its .43 cal limitation, but the gas mileage allows you to beat the odds with more balls fired. A premium feel gun for beginner to intermediate level players who need more ammo than the pros.

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